Wire straightener



y 1969 5. N. DITTRICH 3,443,607

WIRE STRAIGHTENER Filed Jan. 4, 1967 Sheet 0f 4 H9 1 INVENTOR.

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WIRE STRAIGHTENER 7 Filed Jan. 4, 1967 Sheet 5 of 4 INVENTOR.

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3,443,607 WIRE STRAIGHTENER Gunter N. Dittrich, Dusseldorf-Eller, Germany, assignor to Malmedie & C0. Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany Filed Jan. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 607,294 Int. Cl. 1321f 1/02; B21d 3/02 US. Cl. 140-147 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to wire straighteners and relates more particularly to a wire straightener of the type useful for straightening wire as it is fed from a coil and having a bend imparted to it by reason of its having been coiled so that it may be useful as stock for feeding to a machine to perform work on the stock, and wherein it is at least desirable, if not required, that the stock which is fed to the last-mentioned machine be straight or substantially straight as it is fed into the machine.

The stock may be severed in lengths in accordance with any requirements of the work-performing machine or may pass directly to the work-performing machine. The stock as it issues from the wire straightener may also pass in sequence from the wire straightener to the work performer, that is, the two may be used in combination with one another to provide, in effect, one machine. It is desirable that there be some adjustment of the wire at its delivery point from the straightener to pass to a workperforming machine, such as a punch press or header, to align it with the latter. Adjustment of the point of issuance from the wire straightener may be useful for other purposes as well. It has also been found desirable to provide for an adjustment of the degree of bend imparted to the wire by the wire straightener to compensate for the curvature previously imparted to it by coiling so that it is in effect straightened.

It is also desirable to provide a straightener on which straightening rolls may be fitted in accordance with the wire size. The wire, which may be of steel, for example, may be approximately 1 inch in diameter or possibly substantially less than 1 inch in diameter. It is advantageous to provide a wire straightener to straighten wire regardless of whether or not the coil is a right-hand coil or a left-hand coil.

One subject of the invention is to provide an improved wire straightener of the above-described type. Another object is to provide in such a straightener improved wireguiding means to guide the wire as it is fed from a source, such as a coil of wire, to the straightening rolls employed in the machine. A further object is to provide a guide having only a small degree of frictional contact with the wire as it is guided to the wire-straightening rolls. Still nited States Patent M 3,443,607 Patented May 13, 1969 another object is to provide a guide of simple and economical construction. Another object of the invention is to provide a guide which serves a dual purpose as a guide, that is, a guide useful for the purpose of inhibiting the movement of turns of the wire, when in coiled condition, in a direction to ride or pack against one or more of the essential wire-straightening rolls, or otherwise interfere with the operation of the machine, and which also guides the wire after it has left the coil for proper alignment with the wire-straightening rolls of the machine. Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the presently pre ferred form of wire straightner.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, illustrating the wire guide in section, showing a wire straightener embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the wire straightener, partially in section;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of FIG. 2, on a larger scale;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the wire straightener.

In the drawings, a composite boxlike machine frame having multiple box portions is indicated generally at 10. This frame, provided with a suitable bed, may rest on a floor and is shown to advantage in FIG. 5.

Within the frame there is journaled in the form shown a horizontally extending shaft 11 (FIG. 2) having on one end thereof (FIG. 1) a wheel 12 which may be a pulley or a sprocket driven by suitable means such as a chain 13 from a motor-driven sprocket wheel 14 in the manner indicated in phantom in FIG. 1. The prime mover providing a drive for the sprocket wheel 14 is indicated at 11 and is shown as an electric motor. At the other end of the motor-driven shaft 11 there is affixed in the illustrated form a wire-straightening roll 15 which cooperates with a companion wire-straightening roll 16. The roll 16 is carried on one end of a shaft 17 supported in the frame for vertical adjustment of the roll 16. In the form of the wire straightener shown in the drawings the shaft 17 has the roll 16 fixed thereto and is driven (not shown) in a conventional manner from the shaft 11 through suitable gearing.

The shaft 17 is journaled in a sleeve 18 having an end adjacent the roll 16, which cooperates with the ram 19 of a fluid cylinder 20 in such a way that the piston or ram 19 of the fluid cylinder may co-act with the sleeve '18 to impart pressure on the latter in a direction to press the roll 16 toward the roll '15, between which rolls the wire passes to be straightened. The ram and associated parts are supported from the frame of the machine in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.. The pressure on the ram may be relieved so that the roll 16 may be raised to facilitate the insertion of the wire between the rolls 15 and 16 before the commencement of a straightening operation, or to remove wire between the rolls.

Extending laterally from the frame 10 in fixed relation thereto is an arm 21 having an upwardly directed distal end 22 which supports with the frame a shaft 24 which is concentric to the roll 15 and, in the form illustrated by way of example, in fixed relation thereto, as shown in FIG. 4. The arm comprises a vertically arranged platelike portion 21 welded or otherwise suitably secured to the frame 10 and a horizontally extending platelike portion 21 extending therethrough in fixed relation. The distal end 22 of the arm comprises a plate assembly which supports the outer end of the shaft 24 through an antifriction device 24*.

As best seen in FIG. 5, two idler rolls 25 are provided, one on either side of the plane of the shaft 24 and each supported from a housing portion 31 which provides for vertical adjustment of the roll 25 by any suitable means.

Supported from the frame adjacent the inner end of the arm is the wire guide indicated generally at 26. It comprises a blocklike supporting base 27 which in illustrated form is secured to the arm as by being bolted thereto as at 28 and 29. See FIG. 3. The guide 26 is employed on the feed side of the machine, which is the right-hand side as viewed in FIG. 1. However, the arrangement may be such that the prime mover may be reversed to drive the bending and straightening rolls 15 and 16 which are also feed rolls in the other direction, so that the delivery side of the machine, which is the lefthand side as shown in FIG. 1, may become the feed side and the feed side the delivery side, depending on whether the wire to be straightened is received from a right-hand coil or a left-hand coil, and to this end the guide may be mounted, not shown, on the other side of the arm 21 by the 'base 27.

The support 27 has an inclined face 30 at an angle of approximately 30 degrees to the horiozntal or the illustrated wire path in the area in which the wire passes between the straightening rolls 15 and 16. This surface 30 is spaced a distance below the right-hand idler roll 25, as shown in FIG. 3. The surface 30 terminates at its upper extremity in a horizontal surface of the block 27, and the junction of these surfaces is shown as being only slightly to the left of the vertical plane in which the axis of the last-mentioned idler roll is disposed, as shown in FIG. 3. The position of the guide 26 axially of the straightening roll 15 is best shown in FIG. 2. The rolls 15, 16 and 25 are aligned transversely in the same plane.

The guide 26 comprises a pair of upwardly extending elongated rollers 33, each supported on a shaft 34 to be revoluble in a plane normal to the surface 30. As viewed in FIG. 1, the left-hand roller 33 approaches a tangential relationship with reference to the circular periphery of the right-hand idler 25. The rollers are arranged side by side in parallelism and in alignment with one another transversely of the arm 21. The rollers 33 are spaced axially of the rolls 15 and 16, as shown in FIG. 2, and have the same relative axial position to the rolls 25.

Each roller 33 has within its lower end a bushing 35 which supports it from the surface 30 and at its upper end a bushing 36. These bushings of each roller are revoluble therewith on the companion shaft 34 which has its lower end fixed in the support block 27. A plate 37 extends across the upper ends of the rollers 33. A pair of suitable fasteners extend through the plate 37 for cooperation with the respective shafts 34 to prevent upward dislocation of the rollers 33 on their shafts while permitting the rollers to turn freely.

It will be noted that the rollers 33 extend upwardly beyond the illustrated plane of horizontal travel of the wire, indicated at 39, between the wire-straightening rolls 15 and 1-6 and also extend well below this plane, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3. They also extend well above the horizontal plane in which the roll nip provided by the rolls 15 and 16 is located.

It should be noted that the idler rolls 25 may be adjusted vertically independently of one anotther and one may be higher than the other, so it will be seen that the wire is not necessarily passed horizontally in the area of the rolls 15, 16 and 25. The length of the guide rollers 33 accommodates the wire in any vertically adjusted position of the right-hand idler roll 25 within predetermined limits.

The primary function of the rolls 25 is that of wire straightening which is known in the industry as breaking the back of the wire. However, the left-hand roll 25, as viewed in FIG. 1, may be adjusted vertically as afore said within predetermined limits for the purpose of aligning the wire delivered from the straightener to a receiving work-performing machine, for example. The right-hand idler roll 25 may be adjusted similarly, for the same purpose when the wire is driven in the opposite direction and guide 26 mounted on the left as viewed in FIG. 1, as aforesaid. The direction of drive of the rolls for wire-straightening purposes will be dependent upon whether the coil is a left-hand coil or a right-hand coil, as previously indicated. Also, as previously indicated, the direction of the feed of the wire may be changed by reversing the electric motorlll.

The length of the guide rollers 33 accommodates dif ferent wire sizes and provides, without adjustment of the guide, for engagement of the turn of the wire still on the coil but nearest to the roll 15 on one side of the guide 26 while also providing, in similar manner, for proper engagement of the wire with the guide, as it comes off the coil, and passes the guide on the other side thereof. These levels of contact with the guide on either side thereof may be approximately the same in operation of the machine or, as indicated in the drawing-s, may differ, and they are not the same when the roll 16 is in raised position and the free end of the wire is inserted between the rolls 15 and 16 preparatory to a straightening operation.

The length of the guide rollers 33 also provides for engagement of the rollers 33, then serving as an abutment, with any turn of wire that tends to ride over another turn of wire at the right-hand end of the coil, as viewed in FIG. 2, which might otherwise interfere with the operation of the straightening rolls. The length of the guide rollers also makes the guide suitable for use without adjustment for the running of wire of widely differing diameters, and it will be noted that in the operation of the machine the wire, indicated at 39, has substantially point contact with one or more rollers 33 of the guide, thereby tending to reduce friction to the minimum. As previously indicated, friction is further reduced by the manner in which the rollers are fioatingly mounted on the base, that is, mounted to rotate freely. It may be noted that the right-hand wire-straightening roll 25, as viewed in FIG. 1, may serve an uncoiling function, and it will be obvious from the foregoing that the last-mentioned roll cooperates with the guide.

The guide facilitates locating the free end of the wire between the rolls 15 and 16 when they are in relatively separated positions, before the roll 16 is pressed toward the roll 15 by the fluid cylinder 20.

It will be noted that the guide rollers 33 do not extend radially of the coil of wire to be straightened but have the inclination with respect thereto and to the vertical plane of the axes of the rolls 15 and 16 shown in FIG. 3. As viewed in FIG. 1, the rollers 33 lie in planes in chordlike relation to the coil of wire on the shaft 24.

The plate assembly 22 at the distal end of the arm 21 supports together with the support for the shaft 24, a roller 22 in a freely revoluble manner, which roller is radially arranged with reference to the axis of the shaft 24 and which serves as an abutment for preventing the coil from being dislocated on the shaft 24 to the left as viewed in FIG. 2 once it has been placed on a shaft.

The coil may he, say, approximately 5 feet in diameter or considerably less than that. It loops over the shaft 24 and the arm 21. The coil, when the turns thereof are bundled together and tied as by conventional bundling ties, may be picked up, as by a fork-lift truck, and extended over the shaft 24 and the arm 21 and then lowered after it has cleared the plate assembly 22, the roller 22 and the associated parts thereof to rest on the shaft 24 so that it is suspended from the latter. The Wire ties, which bundle the turns of the coil together, are removed from the coil after it has been loaded on the machine as aforesaid. When this is done, the coil tends to spread axially on the shaft 24.

In the illustrated form a pair of anvils 3.1 are provided, one mounted in each of the housing portions 31 for bodily adjustment in a vertical plane with the roll 25 which is mounted in part of the frame. Each anvil 31 is retractable into its companion housing portion 31 so as to clear the roll 25 previously indicated to be mounted in that housing portion, but is also extensible by means of manipulation of a knob 32 in fixed relation thereto to extend over the roll 25. The lower surface of the anvil is formed on a radius substantially the same as the radius of the roll 25 and is complementally shaped to the periphery of the roll. The anvil 31 is so arranged with reference to the roll 25 that when it is extended from its housing by manipulation of the knob 32 by sliding movement, it may in effect be supported from the roll 25 when downward pressure is exerted on the anvil, as in substantially straightening the free end of a coil of wire prior to running the wire past all of the wirestraightening rolls.

The free end of the wire tends to curl. In other words, the wire has become arcuately bent by a prior coiling operation and the free end tends to resiliently return to coiled condition. To facilitate feeding the wire into the machine the anvil on the feed side is employed, the rolls 15 and 16 are separated relatively to one another, and the curled free end of the coil is inserted between these rolls with the wire extending over the anvil in the latters extended position, the Wire being supported thereon. The rolls 15 and 16 are then moved relatively to one another to bring them together to substantially straighten the free end of the wire. The anvil 31 is retracted in its housing before full insertion of the wire into the machine to permit the wire to run through the machine. Only the anvil on the feed side is employed or extended for this purpose.

It has been previously indicated that the guide 26 is employed on the feed side of the machine, whichever that may be, as determined by whether or not the coil to be straightened is a left-hand coil or a right-hand coil. It has also been previously indicated that wire-straightening rolls 25 are adjustable vertically for a number of purposes. The wire guide 26 is maintained in a stationary condition once assembled to the machine for operation of the latter to, say, straighten wire in a right-hand coil. As indicated, the length of the rollers 33 of the guide provides for proper engagement of the wire with the guide 26 regardless of the vertical adjustment of the roll 25 on the feed side within the predetermined limits of this ad justment. In other words, the points of contact of the Wire with the rollers 33 of the guide may vary in ac cordance with the vertical adjustment of the roll 25 on the feed side.

It will be obvious that after the wire has passed the straightening rolls in a wire-straightening operation, it is no longer necessary to drive the wire by means of the straightening rolls 15 and 16. The power to these rolls may be cut off and the wire pulled by some extenral means, not shown, through the straightening rolls.

While only one form of the wire straightener has been shown in the drawings and described above, it will be readily apparent to those versed in the art that the wire straightener is susceptible of taking other forms and that various changes may be made in details without departing from the principles of the invention and the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for straightening wire fed from a coil and which. resiliently resists bending in the opposite direction to straighten the wire, an upright frame, a plurality of bending rolls supported from the frame axially parallel to one another and aligned in a plane transversely of their axes, co-acting one with another, forming a path for the wire, one of said rolls being at the entry side and another being at the delivery side of the straightening rolls, an arm projecting laterally from the frame lengthwise of the roll axes, a shaft supported intermediate the distal end of the arm and one of the intermediate straightening rolls in concentric relation thereto and on which the coil is supported, and a wire guide offset with respect to the transverse plane of said rolls, said guide comprising a pair of elongate wire-engaging freely revoluable rollers in side-by-side relationship aligned with one another transversely of said shaft, said rollers extending across the wire path and forwardly of the aforementioned roll at said entry side, one of said rollers being in substantially tangential relationship to the last-mentioned roll, the rollers also being in planes in chordlike relation to the coil on said arm, the wire while in the coil having substantially point contact with at least one of the guide rollers at one side of the guide, whereby interference of the coil with the operation of certain of the intermediate wire-straightening rolls is prevented by the roller which provides an anti-friction abutment for the coil, and the wire at the other side of the guide having substantially point contact with at least one of the rollers to be guided in the plane of the Wire path for proper delivery of the wire from the coil to the straightening rolls in the plane in which the rolls are transversely aligned.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the intermediate rolls consist of a pair of rolls forming a wire nip therebetween, and wherein the arm at the distal end thereof supports an anti-friction freely revoluble roller radially arranged with respect to said coil-supporting shaft, serving as an abutment for the coil, inhibiting dislocation of the coil outwardly with respect to said arm and shaft.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the other aforementioned wire-straightening rolls are the rolls at said entry side and said delivery side respectively, and wherein the last-mentioned rolls are adjustable in said transverse plane in which they are located to adjust the degree of Wire bending, the roll at the delivery side also being adjustable in the last-mentioned plane to vary the point of delivery of the Wire in this plane.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the other aforementioned wire-straightening rolls are the rolls at said entry side and said delivery side respectively, and wherein the last-mentioned rolls are adjustable in said transverse plane in which they are located to adjust the degree of Wire bending, the roll at the delivery side also being adjustable in the last-mentioned plane to vary the point of delivery of the wire in this plane.

5. In apparatus for straightening wire fed from a coil and which resiliently resists bending in the opposite direction to straighten the wire, an upright frame, a plurality of bending rolls axially parallel to one another and aligned in a plane transversely of their axes, coacting with one another, forming a path for the wire, one of said rolls being at the entry side of the straightening rolls, an arm projecting from the frame lengthwise of the roll axes and on which the coil is supported, and a wire guide comprising at least one elongated wire-engaging freely-revoluble roller, said guide roller extending across the wire path forwardly of the aforementioned roll at said entry side, the guide roller being in a plane in chordlike relation to the coil on said arm, the wire while in the coil having substantially point contact with said guide roller at one side thereof, whereby interference of the coil with the operation of the wire-straightening rolls is prevented by said guide roller which provides an anti-friction abutment for the coil, and the wire at the other side of said guide roller having substantially point contact with said roller to be guided in the plane of the wire path for proper delivery of the wire from the coil to the straightening rolls in the plane in which the rolls are transversely aligned.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said arm supports said coil on a shaft coaxial with one of said straightening rolls, said shaft and the coaxial roll being driven and the last-mentioned roll being a wire-feeding roll coacting with another one of said rolls to form a nip.

(References on following page) References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Beeman et al 72-183 Kitchen 72-183 Friedman 140-147 Kramer 140-147 Heller 72-183 Friedman 140-147 Heller 140-147 8 3,002,537 10/1961 Kenmore et a1. 140-1 3,264,855 8/1966 Turbett 72-79 3,360,016 12/1967 Coleman 140-1 5 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 72-183; 140-1 Patent No. 3,443,607 May 13, 1969 Gunter N. Dittrich It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

line 30, the claim reference numeral "1" should read 2 Column 6,

"1,087,793" should read 1,048,793 line 6, "2,511,275

Column 7, line 3, should read 2,511,274

Signed and sealed this 14th day of April 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

